Navalny verdict: LIVE UPDATES

People crowd in front of the State Duma in central Moscow on July 18, 2013, protesting as opposition leader Alexei Navalny was sentenced to five years in a penal colony after finding him guilty of embezzlement in a timber deal (AFP Photo)

Russian opposition protest leader Aleksey Navalny has been found guilty of corruption on a large scale. The anti-corruption blogger has been sentenced to 5 years in jail for embezzlement of funds in a state-owned timber company.

6:07 GMT: A police officer tells the crowd
through a megaphone, "Let Mr. Navalny get by!" Security was
stepped up at the train station before the opposition blogger's
arrival.

Saturday, July 20

“However, it is widely known that the President does not and
cannot comment on court decisions,” Peskov added.

When asked about the possibility of a presidential pardon for
Navalny if he is jailed, Peskov said that, according to the law,
a convicted person must plead guilty before asking for a
pardon.

8:04 GMT: All the opposition protesters detained during
Wednesday’s rally have been freed, Moscow police say.

Friday, July 19

7:12 GMT: Navalny and his accomplice Ofitserov have been
freed pending appeal on the condition they adhere to travel
restrictions stipulated by the court. The judge also ruled that
Navalny may run in the Moscow mayoral elections in spite of the
charges set against him. Navalnytold the court
he had not yet decided whether he will participate in the
September elections.

00:10 GMT:
City workers have started to clean up the streets following a
mass rally. Litter is everywhere after several thousand protested
Navalny’s verdict.

23:38 GMT: Some 50
people have reportedly returned to Manezhnaya Square. In an
effort to organize a larger crowd they are tweeting that it would
actually be “much more fun” if there were several thousand
of them.

22:15 GMT: While about 100 people remain in
Kitai-Gorod area, the majority of protesters have left the
streets in anticipation of more rallies tomorrow, when the court
is scheduled to consider the appeal to release Navalny and
Ofitserov with restrictions on travel until the final verdict
officially comes into effect.

20:51 GMT: Riot police have addressed the crowd in
Kitay-Gorod telling them to stop the unsanctioned protest.

20:36 GMT: Police sources are saying at least 113
people have been detained across Moscow. Meanwhile activists on
Twitter claim police have run out of space in prison trucks and
call on everyone to join decentralized protest “promenades” in
Moscow streets.

19:50 GMT: In the city of St. Petersburg most of the 500
to 800 people who gathered in Malaya Sadovaya Street have
dispersed due to torrential rain some three hours after the start
of the unauthorized protest. However, around 100 people shouting
slogans in support of Navalny have remained in the city’s central
pedestrian street.

The city’s police have not initiated mass arrests, however, they
have detained those shouting slogans and holding placards,
according to Itar-Tass. A local deputy was detained along with
some 60 protesters, but was soon released, the agency said.

19:21 GMT: After five hours of unauthorized peaceful
protests crowds of Navalny supporters are still standing in
Moscow’s central streets, occasionally clapping hands and
shouting slogans. Some have brought flashlights, and vowed to
continue protesting overnight.

Meanwhile, Team Navalny has called on people to bring water and
food to the protesters and not to cease the action.

The police have cordoned off the thoroughfares to prevent
protesters from blocking the traffic and have been detaining
those trying to run into busy streets, as well as those holding
banners. At least 60 activists have reportedly been detained in
Moscow, according to journalists at the site.

19:17 GMT: There are lots of young people among the
Navalny supporters protesting near Moscow’s Manezhnaya Square,
RT’s Maria Finoshina reports from the scene. Some of them have
pinned stickers reading “Change Russia – start with
Moscow,” she said.

18:43 GMT: The police have separated protesters, but some
Navalny supporters have organized chanting in synch across the
street via mobile phone, RT’s Lucy Kafanov reports from Moscow's
center.

Protesters have been chanting slogans like “Navalny is sitting
[in jail] on our behalf,” “We won’t forgive we won’t forget,”
“One for all and all for one,” and “Freedom!”

18:24 GMT: The US State Department said it was “very
disappointed” with the Russian court’s verdict for Navalny
and Ofitserov and expressed concerns over the “frightening
tendency” for “politically motivated” cases in Russia.

17:45 GMT: Kirov’s Leninsky District Court had no grounds
for changing Navalny’s and Ofitserov’s pre-trial restrictions
from a travel ban to detention, the Prosecutor-General’s Office
explained to Interfax. The prosecution earlier appealed the
decision of the court. The court is to consider the appeal on
Friday.

PHOTO: Thousands of protesters surrounding the Hotel National
building in the center of Moscow near Manezhnaya Square.

17:30 GMT: At least 60 people have been detained near
Manezhnaya Square at the unauthorized protest in support of
Aleksey Navalny, Itar-Tass reports. Those detained have been
loaded into police buses and taken away to police stations.